MOBILE, Alabama — A pair of accused robbers pleaded not guilty this afternoon to a federal indictment accusing them of participating in a scheme to hold up drug dealers throughout the area.

U.S. Magistrate Judge William Cassady ordered Lorenzo Taylor Jr. and Reginald Martez Robinson jailed and scheduled their trial for June.

Taylor, 37, of Mobile, and Robinson, 31, of Saraland, both stand charged with conspiracy to use a firearm in connection with drug trafficking, kidnapping and attempted possession with intent to distribute drugs. The indictment also charges Taylor with illegal possession of a firearm.

Both men and a third defendant, who is a fugitive, stand accused of taking money or drugs in a series of holdups between mid-2009 and last May. Authorities contend that when the robbers got drugs, they would sell them and when the haul was money, they would use it to buy drugs to sell.

Law enforcement authorities contend that Taylor and the fugitive armed themselves, waited outside of a home in Mobile on December 2009 and then jumped a woman and her minor child and tied them up with duct tape.

Taylor threatened to kill the woman in order to coerce her into giving him the location of another address, and then drove with her to that apartment to rob the resident, according to the allegations.

Taylor faces charges that he committed a similar robbery in February 2010 at a home in Mobile County, stealing a large amount of cash. Taylor and another man used the money to buy marijuana from a supplier in Texas, according to the allegations.

Authorities alleged that Taylor and Robinson held up the residents of a home in Prichard in May of last year and drove them to an apartment, where they stole drugs at gunpoint.

Taylor and Robinson both also have been prosecuted on robbery charges in state court for a similar incident. In that case, Robinson pleaded guilty in November to robbing Darquist Williams. Taylor is scheduled to go on trial this month.

Williams pleaded not guilty last month to a cocaine offense in an unrelated federal case. Court records show that his original attorney, Assistant Federal Defender Peter Madden, withdrew from the case after learning that he also was representing Taylor.

Taylor and Robinson both have extensive criminal records, according to court records.